Spelling in KS2

Aims of the session:

To share with you the principles behind
the way we teach your children spellings.

To give you ideas about how to help your

child with spelling at home.
Why is English so hard to
learn?
Our alphabet has 26 letters.
There are 44 speech sounds.
The speech sounds can be put into 144
combinations!
The 144 combinations make up 500,000 words in
common use.
However,
21 consonant letters = 24 sounds
5 vowel letters = 20 sounds!
The History of The English
Language
Thousands of words have been absorbed over the
years through trade and commerce
There are 3 main sources for English:
Germanic- from Anglo Saxons, over half our words fall
into this category
Romance- Latin, France and, in the 16th century,
Spanish and Portuguese;
Greek- the language of areas of knowledge, (e.g.
physics, philosophy)
Dont despair because

Although only 12% of words in English are spelt

the way they sound 85% of spelling in English is
predictable!
Key to Teaching Spelling:

Foster an interest of the history of our language.

Teach strategies, rules and conventions

systematically and explicitly.

Assist pupils with recognising how to improve

their own spelling and become independent
spellers with their own strategies.
An Example Teaching Session:

Today we will be concentrate on spelling words

using the cian ending.

cian is only ever used as the ending of a word to

show the job that a person carries out: A person
who works with electric is known as an electrician
All you have do is add Ian
electrician

politician

optician

mathematician

musician Ian
What do you call a person
who:
Plays music
Works in politics
Examines eyes
Works with electrics
Very good at mathematics
Performs magic
Exceptions to the rule!

Some words have to be learnt off by

heart.
So well as teaching the rules, patterns and
history of our language we also need your
children to learn the first 300 most
common High Frequency Words during
their time in school.
 I see the word inside my
head

I break the words into bits

I link to other words that

are related to it

I say the word aloud

I write a list of possible

spellings and choose the
I find it just comes one I think looks right
Some words are really hard to spell.
The trick is to remember a word that
is spelled the same, then use it to
help spell others!
One tricky
word is
could. could

A good way to remember this spelling is:

O U Lucky Duck
should
would
because I understand!

Big Elephants Can Always Understand Small Elephants

rhythm

Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move

friend
Watch
out!!
Dont fry!!

You wouldnt want to FRI the END of

your friend!
hear

You hear with your EAR

Spelling Home Learning:
The menu format has been designed to try and
encompass the different ways in which children
learn their spelling words.
Any questions?